St. Charles teen rising to national level in competitive horse riding
St. Charles North High School student-athlete Alyssa Watanapongse is competing at the national level, but not on a North Stars team.
Watanapongse, 16, is a Saddle Seat Equestrian and was invited by the U.S. Saddle Seat Association to be part of their National Young Rider program. In July, she earned a silver medal competing against national youth teams from the U.S. and Canada in the four-day International Saddle Seat Invitational in New Orleans.
After the performance in July, Watanapongse and her team were asked to represent the U.S. (ages 14 to 20) at the World Cup Invitational event in December in South Africa. She has applied and is hoping to be selected for the U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup team, which will return to South Africa to compete in December 2024.
Watanapongse rode her first horse at age 5 and was competing by age 8. Now she has her sights set on a Triple Crown.
The Watanapongse family moved to St. Charles when Alyssa was 5. She remembers being driven past the Seven Oaks Farm on her way to school. She eventually would convince her parents to take her to the farm to ride a horse for the first time.
Watanapongse said she started competing before she owned a horse, riding borrowed horses in academy showings. She got her first horse, Tahlia, a few years later and now owns, trains and competes with four horses.
She keeps her horses at Meadow Brook Stables in Maple Park, where she trains almost every day. Watanapongse said the horses are like athletes with their own training regimen. She rides each of her four horses at least once a week and they work with trainers the other days.
Watanapongse said saddle seat is a type of English riding. It is an uncommon discipline, similar to dressage, that showcases American Saddlebred horses' abilities to display different gaits. She specializes in saddle seat equitation, a riding style she said focuses on the rider's posture and how effectively the rider communicates with the horse.
Watanapongse said the Triple Crown is the pinnacle of equitation. Similar to the Triple Crown in horse racing, the Saddle Seat Triple Crown is earned by placing first in three major events in one season: the USEF Saddle Seat Medal Final, the UPHA Challenge Cup and the Good Hands National Championship.
Watanapongse has qualified for all three Triple Crown events this year. She previously competed in Triple Crown events in a younger age category and is hoping to bring home gold medals in this year's events in the age 14-17 category.
Among the highest honors in saddle seat riding is the Saddle Seat World Cup, which happens every other year. In 2024, it will be in South Africa and Watanapongse is hoping to secure an invitation.
Barbe Smith, president of the U.S. Saddle Seat Association, has been watching Watanapongse show horses for five years and described her as a lovely kid with a great work ethic.
Smith said winning a Triple Crown and competing in the World Cup takes a lot of practice and hard work and that is exactly what Watanapongse has been doing.
"She's always smiling and working hard," Smith said. "She absolutely has what it takes to compete for a Triple Crown."
Amid her busy training regimen and weekend competitions, Watanapongse manages to keep a grade-point average over 5.0 at St. Charles North High School.